The anti-gun folks are trying to get a measure on the 2014 ballot to ban firearms on college campuses in Colorado. They need to collect 86,105 signatures in the next six months in order for the measure to go forward. I think that’s a tall order, but certainly not impossible if they have enough money behind them or enough volunteers. I think we stand a good chance of defeating this measure if it makes it onto the ballot, but I look at this as a mechanism for spreading us as thin as they can get away with. Ballot fights are hella expensive for both sides, and if Bloomberg throws his wallet into the fight, we really can’t compete. If we have to spend money fending off a ballot measure, it’ll take some of the heat off the politicians who voted for the magazine ban, and also some of the Colorado federal representatives who also voted for gun control.

If this goes through, the most important focus will need to be getting our voters to the polls, and to make sure they vote “no” on the campus carry ban. It’ll all come down to mobilizing our people.

Sure, this will be big bucks on both sides, and Bloomberg & Co. have access to deeper pockets than we can easily muster.

But, consider the silver lining: If it makes it to the ballot, it becomes a ballot issue, and ballot issues, while certainly requiring money, are won (or lost) primarily with votes, and the pro-gun side usually has a lot of those. I suspect, but don’t know for sure, that gun owners are already motivated in Colorado, having pushed out two anti-gun Democrats and pressured a third into retiring early so as to preserve a Dem majority.

Were I on the Dem side I would be concerned about getting the pro-gun and individual freedom folks so riled up they turn out in big numbers. And, if it’s going to go that direction, what other measures can pro-gunners get on the ballot to drive even greater voter participation from our side?

I’m betting you won’t see a thin dime from Bloomie on this one. Current news articles seem to indicate that he’s pulling in his horns on gun control, and the Dems have told him to quit poisoning their well.

Colorado gun owners are motivated and we do have pull here (ask our 3 recalled Democrat Senators) but we’ve got a lot of educating to do to win in a statewide election.

When the courts finally ruled on campus carry at CU here (making it legal, as it was always meant to be) I posted it on FB and the wife of one of my friends freaked out and was just sure this would mean gunfights at every drunken frat party (which is what the other side will portray).

When I explained to her what it really meant:

1. 21 and over only qualify (think all those veterans going back to college).
2. People are PROVABLY more responsible than you think, given history elsewhere (i.e. Utah — no bloody shootouts at frat parties)
3. Fraternities at CU are ALL off campus anyway so campus rules don’t apply and never have
4. The previous rule meant that her own husband could be arrested if was driving home from a hunting trip and ventured on a street that went through campus (you can drive through campus in Boulder quite easily)

Well, all of that together made her see the light and calm down and realize the law was for the best. If you’ve got a kid going to college you should WANT campus carry.

But we’ve got a lot of mom’s out there who will have a knee jerk reaction like my friend’s to guns on campus and we’ve got to convince them all.

On the one hand I hope it’s not a ballot fight, on the other hand a ballot fight we win would be HUGE in this state. And send yet another message to Dems thinking about pushing the anti-gun agenda in other blue-ish states with a red streak in them.

In Minneapolis, MN, the U of MN bans guns on campus. There have been about a dozen robberies and assaults of students at the U and in the neighborhoods surrounding the U this Fall. Sudents have been lucky. So far no one has been killed in the gun free zones.